The present invention relates to a fountain brush having a bristle carrier and a set of bristles thereon, a handle attached to the bristle carrier and forming a reservoir for a liquid or pasty medium, and an actuating device, attached to the end of the bristle carrier remote from the bristles and comprising an actuating press-member, which is attachable to the inner wall of the handle via compressible bellows means, a channel leading through the bristle carrier from the reservoir to the bristles and having an outlet orifice between the bristles, and an obturating member which closes the said orifice or clears the latter for the discharge of the medium therefrom.
A fountain brush of this type has already been disclosed in British patent specification No. 913,371 to Ronald James Davenport, specifically for use as a toothbrush. However, the filling of the reservoir of this toothbrush which, in order to render the latter commercially competitive, must be carried out fully automatically, presents substantial problems. These arise because, on filling, the valve 24 at the outlet orifice must either be held closed by a gripper which can be applied externally, or must be designed to close so effectively that, on dispensing toothpaste or dental cleaning liquid from the reservoir, particularly if the latter is already partially empty, the bellows 11 must be compressed repeatedly in order to generate sufficient pressure in the interior of the reservoir to cause the valve, which closes very tightly, to release the outlet orifice.
Furthermore, the fitting of the outlet valve demands eccentric assembly of the components, and, as a result, complicated assembly machinery; furthermore, the cavity available within the handle is not fully available for accomodating the medium to be applied to the bristles.
Finally, the design of the channel in the bristle carrier, which has a capillary action on the medium flowing through it, is difficult to manufacture by modern mass production methods, especially by injection molding from thermoplastic material, because the thin core which would be required for such technique, would break off too easily.